Reservas internacionales en economías bimonetarias. Un análisis empírico

International reserves are an instrument used by central banks to provide liquidity insurance and to deal with future uncertainties and sudden changes in capital flows. There are three rules based on different criteria to determine the optimal level of these external assets. This paper proposes to add a new criterion (rule with bimonetarity) to the existing ones (debt, commercial and financial criteria). Since the demand of the monetary authority is added to that of the private sector, when the economy is bimonetary, the criteria for the optimality of external assets should be more rigid. A stylized characterization of bimonetary economies is presented and, through an empirical analysis of the determinants of international reserves for nine Latin American economies for the period 2000-2022, evidence is provided for the inclusion of a new criterion in addition to reserve requirements (bimonetarity). The results indicate that short-term external debt, internal leakage, and the dollarization rate all affect reserve levels and should therefore be included in reserve requirements. The result is important because it allows us to generate an optimality rule for international reserves when studying bimonetary economies. Reception date: 07/03/2024Acceptance date: 04/09/2024